[Trunk Monkey]

Excellent work PCM. I really hope that it is published.

[Fetch]

You could have at least called him a Butt head

[kfah1]

Execllent response PCM! Many points and examples summarized in a well stated letter. How can they argue that? (Of course they will, it's hard to reason with them anyway)

You're earning your keep as our "psuedo-reporter" that's for sure!

Great work!

[Schmitzzz]

Excuse me, but I believe you meant to say "sudo-reporter", a title which I believe PCM has grown to accept. But just don't call him a pre-madona.

Nice work, as usual, Pat.

[PCM]

A day or two ago, the Rapid City (SD) Journal ran an editorial on the Chief Illiniwek/Fighting Sioux controversy.

Quote

Closer to home, the University of North Dakota in Grand Forks continues to be embroiled in a controversy over its “Fighting Sioux” nickname, and a lawsuit filed against the NCAA challenges its restrictions on the university over its use of the nickname.

Quote

A tribal college or Indian reservation school with an Indian nickname to celebrate its heritage is fine. What’s not so fine is when non-Indian teams do so.

Say what you want about such a team nickname showing pride in Indian culture and not meaning to be disrespectful. If it bothers, embarrasses and angers American Indians, it’s just plain wrong.

Here's the response I e-mailed the Journal:

Quote

I know from my years as a newspaper reporter that seldom a day passed
without someone angrily taking offense at the words and photos we published.
But never once did I hear an editor or the publisher proclaim, "We should
shut down immediately lest we embarrass or anger another citizen. What we're
doing is just plain wrong!"

Thus, when the Rapid City Journal lends its support to a minority of
minority which demands that the University of North Dakota change its
Fighting Sioux nickname and logo because some are offended, I question
whether the self-anointed guardians of the First Amendment take their
responsibility seriously.

In journalism school, I was taught that freedom of expression was the right
of all Americans. Enabling hypersensitive groups to censor words and images
within the public domain - words and images which they themselves use every
day - serves only to create protected classes with special rights that are
then used to trample the constitutionally guaranteed rights of others. And
that's just plain wrong.

[Sioux-cia]

PCM, on Feb 28 2007, 06:29 PM, said:

Quote

I know from my years as a newspaper reporter that seldom a day passed
without someone angrily taking offense at the words and photos we published.
But never once did I hear an editor or the publisher proclaim, "We should
shut down immediately lest we embarrass or anger another citizen. What we're
doing is just plain wrong!"

Thus, when the Rapid City Journal lends its support to a minority of
minority which demands that the University of North Dakota change its
Fighting Sioux nickname and logo because some are offended, I question
whether the self-anointed guardians of the First Amendment take their
responsibility seriously.

In journalism school, I was taught that freedom of expression was the right
of all Americans. Enabling hypersensitive groups to censor words and images
within the public domain - words and images which they themselves use every
day - serves only to create protected classes with special rights that are
then used to trample the constitutionally guaranteed rights of others. And
that's just plain wrong.

Good job. It continues to baffle me that newpapers don't get the concept of freedom of speech AND don't know that there is not a right to not be offended in the Bill of Rights.

[PCM]

Sioux-cia, on Feb 28 2007, 07:41 PM, said:

It continues to baffle me that newpapers don't get the concept of freedom of speech AND don't know that there is not a right to not be offended in the Bill of Rights.

Not to mention the invented-out-of-thin-air right of respect and right of self-portrayal.

[Diggler]

This thread be renamed Grandpa PCM owning a bunch of newspaper dorks.

[sioux7>5]

Once again PCM you did a great job representing how we all feel about this very important issue. I wish I could write like that. Once again, nice job.

[The Sicatoka]

PCM, on Feb 28 2007, 07:56 PM, said:

Sioux-cia, on Feb 28 2007, 07:41 PM, said:

It continues to baffle me that newpapers don't get the concept of freedom of speech AND don't know that there is not a right to not be offended in the Bill of Rights.

Not to mention the invented-out-of-thin-air right of respect and right of self-portrayal.

Somebody's been readin' my signature.

[PCM]

From the University of Arizona Wildcat Online:

Point Counterpoint

Quote

Mascot ban about abuse, not political correctness
This isn't a debate about political correctness. The NCAA was right to decide that schools with hostile American Indian symbols must abandon their mascots to be eligible for lucrative post-season games. They were right because the inconvenience of changing a college sports team's mascot is negligible, compared to the injustices of colonization forced on hundreds of indigenous groups in the U.S.

Quote

Opposition to Indian mascots exaggerated
Eighty-one percent of those Native Americans surveyed in a 2002 poll revealed that they supported the use of Indian nicknames in amateur sports. Perhaps that's because they are aware that fans and students at schools like Illinois and Florida State University tend to revere their mascots: At Florida State, home of Chief Osceola, university officials refer to the "unconquered" spirit of the Seminole tribe as an ideal to be emulated by all students at the school.

[GeauxSioux]

Offending Catholics

Quote

However, the University of Minnesota will not compete against the University of North Dakota because of their Sioux nickname, fearing some Native Americans would be offended.

The University of Minnesota is willing to deeply offend Catholics, but not other groups. The conclusion is that the school administration holds an anti-Catholic bias.

[The Sicatoka]

GeauxSioux, on Mar 1 2007, 01:43 PM, said:

Offending Catholics

Quote

However, the University of Minnesota will not compete against the University of North Dakota because of their Sioux nickname, fearing some Native Americans would be offended.

The University of Minnesota is willing to deeply offend Catholics, but not other groups. The conclusion is that the school administration holds an anti-Catholic bias.

Goldie's getting a lesson they should've already learned from "The Cos" ...

Quote

"I don't know the key to success, but the key to failure is trying to please everybody."
-- William Henry "Bill" Cosby, Jr., Ph.D.

[Cratter]

One man can change the world. Keep up the good work.

[Goon]

Sioux-cia, on Feb 28 2007, 09:41 PM, said:

Good job. It continues to baffle me that newpapers don't get the concept of freedom of speech AND don't know that there is not a right to not be offended in the Bill of Rights.

Number one majority newspapers nation wide are left wing and thus the left wing agenda is more important than freedom of speech. I can only imagine the scorn PCM will get for the left wing elietist snobs.

[Goon]

Cratter, on Mar 2 2007, 12:36 AM, said:

One man can change the world. Keep up the good work.

What we should call it is CHANGING THE WORLD ONE MORON AT A TIME.

[ScottM]

Quote

The N.C.A.A.’s Division I, the major athletics division where the bulk of serious recruiting and academic violations occur, has 325 institutions and 150,000 student-athletes. Yet the enforcement division for major violations has only 29 staff members, with each working on no more than three cases at a time.

Since 2003, the N.C.A.A. has ruled on 59 major infractions cases and investigated many more that resulted in no punishment. Bond, Schoeneck & King and other firms were involved in many of them. The penalties ranged from a ban on postseason competition and forfeited games to a reduction of scholarships or a limit on the number of campus visits recruits could make.

Obviously, the NC$$ sees its primary job as determining whether team names/logos are "hostile or abusive".

Quote

David Price, the N.C.A.A.’s vice president for enforcement services, acknowledged that many athletic programs continued to bend, if not outright break, the rules. And his staff, which has nearly doubled in the past few years, cannot hope to catch them all. The N.C.A.A. does not have subpoena power, and it must get all information on the record to build a case.

“We’re certainly very busy, but I also think the N.C.A.A. membership doesn’t want a police state,” he said.

Perhaps you should tell this to your boss, Mr. Price.

NY Times

[Chief Illiniwek Supporter]

Quote

“We’re certainly very busy, but I also think the N.C.A.A. membership doesn’t want a police state,” he said.

The NCAA membership doesn't want to see selective enforcement either. However, you seem to have no problem with that.

[GeauxSioux]

Okay, this isn't really about the Sioux name, but Fighting Sioux name is mentioned.
Hunchback comment just latest slur from sport knuckleheads

Quote

So I was saying to golfer Billy Mayfair last summer, a couple of weeks after his surgery for testicular cancer ...

"Billy," I said, "is that a two-stroke penalty for a lost ball, or what?"

Quote

There is far too much sensitivity out there, these days, and people just don't have a sense of humour any more.

Like the native Americans who have been protesting for decades against college and professional sports teams with nicknames like Redskins, Braves, Indians, Redmen, and Fighting Sioux.

[southpaw]

Article today from the AP on a possible settlement:

Quote

A judge has encouraged a settlement in a
legal battle over the University of North Dakota's Fighting Sioux
nickname -- and the lawyers are talking.
Kupchella and Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem (STEN'-jum) say
there have been discussions with N-C-A-A attorneys about a
settlement -- and more talks are likely. But neither Kupchella nor
Stenehjem will speculate on how close the two sides are to an
agreement.